Quite good for what it is - as far as I'm aware it's the best collection of solitaire card games in existence. Each game has a beautiful and unique presentation along with some clever twists on the card solitaire formula.
Whenever I boot this game up, I usually warm up with a game of Sawayama or two. Or three. Maybe just one more? It feels the most addictive of them, with less stressful lookahead and more unknowns and chance taking. It also has possibly my favorite aesthetic of the bunch. Probably the one I would show to my Dad if I had to choose.
I don't really play Sigmar's Garden. It feels slightly out of place to me, and I can't force myself to care about doing the actual calculations needed to be decent at it. I match, I match, maybe I get a win. Meh.
Proletariat's Patience is alright, but hindered a bit by its lack of difficulty and the existence of the superior Cluj game. Moreso than most of the other games here, you can kinda just move things around and you'll eventually finish. The conclusion doesn't feel as impactful as the others either, you just kinda sort them and get some Russian words.
Cribbage is another odd one - no sorting here. Its a pretty ingenious way of implementing a single-player version of the pegging portion of Cribbage which I have played quite a bit of. A little easy to win, but the histogram is nice. High scores seem mostly dependent on the arrangement of cards, and specifically getting lucky with runs.
Cluj is an absolute highlight. The "cheating" mechanism is straight brilliance. Very elegant design, just the right level of difficulty, a joy to play.
Kabufuda is similarly great, though not my game of choice typically. It's an elegant game conceptually that hits some of the same notes as Cluj and even Fortune's Foundation, but I find myself being a bit frustrated with the graphic design and my own inability to distinguish suits.
Shenzhen is solid, a bit on the easy side. The three colored cards feel like they should make for some really clever plays in theory but it's really just the one thing that they let you do, and it makes the game a tad too easy. The blocking cards are clever too, but aren't always arranged in the most interesting way. Shenzhen is great with the right deal and very meh on a bad one.
Then finally, Fortune's Foundation... wow. What can you say but peak? It's the hardest game of the collection by far, and the longest game of the collection by a country mile. Moreso than any other game in the collection this one feels strategic more than tactical, you're making very long term plans about what to focus on and how to untangle the knot laid before you. And when you do finally get enough freedom to fully untangle, it feels amazing because it's by far the most earned win of any game here.
Overall, I'd rank the games like so:
1 Fortune's Foundation
2 Cluj Solitaire
3 Sawayama Solitaire
4 Kabufuda Solitaire
5 Shenzhen Solitaire
6 Cribbage Solitaire
7 Proletariat's Patience
8 Sigmar's Garden
And I give the collection overall a hearty recommendation if you're a fan of this sort of game, which you likely know if you are.
Whenever I boot this game up, I usually warm up with a game of Sawayama or two. Or three. Maybe just one more? It feels the most addictive of them, with less stressful lookahead and more unknowns and chance taking. It also has possibly my favorite aesthetic of the bunch. Probably the one I would show to my Dad if I had to choose.
I don't really play Sigmar's Garden. It feels slightly out of place to me, and I can't force myself to care about doing the actual calculations needed to be decent at it. I match, I match, maybe I get a win. Meh.
Proletariat's Patience is alright, but hindered a bit by its lack of difficulty and the existence of the superior Cluj game. Moreso than most of the other games here, you can kinda just move things around and you'll eventually finish. The conclusion doesn't feel as impactful as the others either, you just kinda sort them and get some Russian words.
Cribbage is another odd one - no sorting here. Its a pretty ingenious way of implementing a single-player version of the pegging portion of Cribbage which I have played quite a bit of. A little easy to win, but the histogram is nice. High scores seem mostly dependent on the arrangement of cards, and specifically getting lucky with runs.
Cluj is an absolute highlight. The "cheating" mechanism is straight brilliance. Very elegant design, just the right level of difficulty, a joy to play.
Kabufuda is similarly great, though not my game of choice typically. It's an elegant game conceptually that hits some of the same notes as Cluj and even Fortune's Foundation, but I find myself being a bit frustrated with the graphic design and my own inability to distinguish suits.
Shenzhen is solid, a bit on the easy side. The three colored cards feel like they should make for some really clever plays in theory but it's really just the one thing that they let you do, and it makes the game a tad too easy. The blocking cards are clever too, but aren't always arranged in the most interesting way. Shenzhen is great with the right deal and very meh on a bad one.
Then finally, Fortune's Foundation... wow. What can you say but peak? It's the hardest game of the collection by far, and the longest game of the collection by a country mile. Moreso than any other game in the collection this one feels strategic more than tactical, you're making very long term plans about what to focus on and how to untangle the knot laid before you. And when you do finally get enough freedom to fully untangle, it feels amazing because it's by far the most earned win of any game here.
Overall, I'd rank the games like so:
1 Fortune's Foundation
2 Cluj Solitaire
3 Sawayama Solitaire
4 Kabufuda Solitaire
5 Shenzhen Solitaire
6 Cribbage Solitaire
7 Proletariat's Patience
8 Sigmar's Garden
And I give the collection overall a hearty recommendation if you're a fan of this sort of game, which you likely know if you are.